Migration Information Source

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While many countries are increasing engagement with their diasporas, U.S. policy has chiefly focused on U.S.-based diasporas from other countries, despite its own estimated overseas population of 7.6 million. This feature explores results from a survey of more than 1,400 U.S. citizens and 140 former citizens living abroad, many of whom are critical of limited U.S. government engagement with them even as restrictive financial reporting regulations have been imposed.

With more than 1.8 million immigrants living in the United States, the Philippines was the fourth largest country of origin in 2013. Filipino immigrants stand out from other top immigrant groups with their unique historical experience as former nationals due to U.S. annexation of the Philippines in 1899, close historic ties to the U.S. military, and prevalence in health-care professions.

Public frustration with decades of poor governance and pervasive corruption in Ukraine culminated in the EuroMaidan revolution in November 2013. Since then, violent conflict and Russia's annexation of Crimea have displaced an estimated 2 million people, both internally and internationally. This feature article explores migration ambitions among Ukrainians in the lead-up and aftermath of EuroMaidan, and the impact of war and economic crisis on traditional migration patterns.

In 2013, more than 25 million people in the United States reported limited English proficiency (LEP), an 80 percent increase since 1990. The LEP population, the majority of which is immigrant, is generally less educated and more likely to live in poverty than the English-proficient population. This Spotlight explores key indicators of the LEP population, both U.S. and foreign born, including geographic distribution, language diversity, and employment.

As legal challenges continue to impede President Obama's deferred action programs to protect millions of unauthorized immigrants from deportation, it is becoming increasingly clear that the window of opportunity for implementation before the 2016 election is growing ever narrower. Even as advocates continue mobilizing immigrants to apply, attention is shifting to other new policies announced by the president last November.

Even as Nepal will lean more heavily on its international diaspora to help recover from devastating earthquakes that killed thousands and decimated parts of the country, the disasters have had effects on internal migration. Class and gender dynamics have long driven significant internal flows. This feature article explores migration trends in Nepal, including movement between ecological zones, growing urbanization, and the feminization of an increasingly mobile workforce.

Use this data tool—referred to as “one addictive interactive map”—to examine immigrant populations by country of origin and destination. Find out how many Americans live in Mexico, how many Ukrainians in Russia, or Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, for example.

Whether as migrant-sending or migrant-receiving locations—or both—many countries have rich, complex international and internal migration histories. MPI's online journal, the Migration Information Source, offers profiles of more than 70 nations. Written by leading scholars, these profiles delve into countries' migration histories, demographics, policymaking, and more.

Recent Articles

While many countries are increasing engagement with their diasporas, U.S. policy has chiefly focused on U.S.-based diasporas from other countries, despite its own estimated overseas population of 7.6 million. This feature explores results from a survey of more than 1,400 U.S. citizens and 140 former citizens living abroad, many of whom are critical of limited U.S. government engagement with them even as restrictive financial reporting regulations have been imposed.

With more than 1.8 million immigrants living in the United States, the Philippines was the fourth largest country of origin in 2013. Filipino immigrants stand out from other top immigrant groups with their unique historical experience as former nationals due to U.S. annexation of the Philippines in 1899, close historic ties to the U.S. military, and prevalence in health-care professions.

Public frustration with decades of poor governance and pervasive corruption in Ukraine culminated in the EuroMaidan revolution in November 2013. Since then, violent conflict and Russia's annexation of Crimea have displaced an estimated 2 million people, both internally and internationally. This feature article explores migration ambitions among Ukrainians in the lead-up and aftermath of EuroMaidan, and the impact of war and economic crisis on traditional migration patterns.

In 2013, more than 25 million people in the United States reported limited English proficiency (LEP), an 80 percent increase since 1990. The LEP population, the majority of which is immigrant, is generally less educated and more likely to live in poverty than the English-proficient population. This Spotlight explores key indicators of the LEP population, both U.S. and foreign born, including geographic distribution, language diversity, and employment.

As legal challenges continue to impede President Obama's deferred action programs to protect millions of unauthorized immigrants from deportation, it is becoming increasingly clear that the window of opportunity for implementation before the 2016 election is growing ever narrower. Even as advocates continue mobilizing immigrants to apply, attention is shifting to other new policies announced by the president last November.

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While many countries are increasing engagement with their diasporas, U.S. policy has chiefly focused on U.S.-based diasporas from other countries, despite its own estimated overseas population of 7.6 million. This feature explores results from a survey of more than 1,400 U.S. citizens and 140 former citizens living abroad, many of whom are critical of limited U.S. government engagement with them even as restrictive financial reporting regulations have been imposed.

Public frustration with decades of poor governance and pervasive corruption in Ukraine culminated in the EuroMaidan revolution in November 2013. Since then, violent conflict and Russia's annexation of Crimea have displaced an estimated 2 million people, both internally and internationally. This feature article explores migration ambitions among Ukrainians in the lead-up and aftermath of EuroMaidan, and the impact of war and economic crisis on traditional migration patterns.

Even as Nepal will lean more heavily on its international diaspora to help recover from devastating earthquakes that killed thousands and decimated parts of the country, the disasters have had effects on internal migration. Class and gender dynamics have long driven significant internal flows. This feature article explores migration trends in Nepal, including movement between ecological zones, growing urbanization, and the feminization of an increasingly mobile workforce.

With rising inflows of humanitarian and economic migrants, Norway faces a series of integration challenges. In conversation with the Migration Information Source, Solveig Horne, Norway's Minister of Children, Equality, and Social Inclusion discusses her work on integration policy, from the importance of language training and a feeling of belonging, to the protection of immigrant women and resettlement of asylum seekers.

Though relatively unexplored, there are myriad links between migration and corruption. This article offers ten connections between migration and corruption, from the facilitation of illegal migration and humanitarian protection to impediments to development benefits. The migration-corruption nexus is examined in three case studies: human trafficking in Nigeria, police extortion in Latin America, and a Norwegian return scheme for Iraqi asylum seekers.

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With more than 1.8 million immigrants living in the United States, the Philippines was the fourth largest country of origin in 2013. Filipino immigrants stand out from other top immigrant groups with their unique historical experience as former nationals due to U.S. annexation of the Philippines in 1899, close historic ties to the U.S. military, and prevalence in health-care professions.

In 2013, more than 25 million people in the United States reported limited English proficiency (LEP), an 80 percent increase since 1990. The LEP population, the majority of which is immigrant, is generally less educated and more likely to live in poverty than the English-proficient population. This Spotlight explores key indicators of the LEP population, both U.S. and foreign born, including geographic distribution, language diversity, and employment.

Immigration to the United States from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has increased in recent years, rising to a total population of 1.02 million in 2013. Immigrants from the region come from a diverse range of countries and cultures. This data Spotlight delves into the variations among MENA groups on key socioeconomic indicators, from geographic distribution and language proficiency to employment, immigration pathways, and naturalization.

Indian immigrants represent the second-largest origin group in the United States, accounting for 4.7 percent of the total foreign-born population. Generally high-skilled and highly educated, more than half of Indian immigrants have arrived since 2000 and largely attain green cards through employment-based pathways. Indians account for 70 percent of H-1B petitions and are the second-largest group of international students in the United States.

Cuban immigrants are afforded a special place in U.S. immigration law, with most able to gain permanent residency after one year in the country. Following a history of surges in maritime migration, more than 1.1 million Cuban immigrants resided in the United States in 2013, accounting for about 3 percent of the total foreign-born population. This article explores key characteristics of Cubans in the United States, including educational attainment, income, and more.

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With a history of encouraging workers to emigrate to relieve unemployment at home, Tunisia now has 11 percent of its population living abroad. The factors underlying the 2011 revolution that sparked the Arab Spring have also fueled emigration desires for many Tunisians. This country profile explores historical and current trends in Tunisia from colonial settlement to the aftermath of the Arab Spring, and the new focus on migrant rights at home and abroad.

The end of the Vietnam war, marked by the fall of Saigon in 1975, precipitated the mass Indochinese refugee crisis, which saw more than 2 million people flee the region, often on unseaworthy boats. Following the war, Vietnamese migration was divided between humanitarian flows to the West, and labor migrants to allied communist countries. More recently, Vietnam's rapid economic growth has prompted increased labor migration to Asia and a rise in migrant brides.

This country profile analyzes Ecuador's migration trends and examines how remittances and return migration have become an important policy focus for a country with an estimated 1.5 million to 2 million nationals living abroad, chiefly in the United States, Spain, and Italy. As waves of emigration occurred, the country also has experienced significant inflows of refugees and economic and lifestyle migrants.

Morocco has evolved into one of the world’s leading emigration countries. European immigration restrictions did not stop migration, but rather pushed Moroccan migrants into permanent settlement, prompting large-scale family reunification. Morocco is also becoming a destination country, and the growing presence of immigrants confronts Moroccan society with an entirely new set of social and legal issues typical for immigration countries, as this country profile explores.

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As legal challenges continue to impede President Obama's deferred action programs to protect millions of unauthorized immigrants from deportation, it is becoming increasingly clear that the window of opportunity for implementation before the 2016 election is growing ever narrower. Even as advocates continue mobilizing immigrants to apply, attention is shifting to other new policies announced by the president last November.

Mexico has lost its long-held status as the top source country of new immigrants to the United States, dropping to third place behind China and India. This historic shift is remarkable for the rapid decline in Mexican inflows combined with a steady rise in Asian immigration, largely through high-skilled visa programs. This Policy Beat explores the reasons behind these trends and their potential impact on U.S. demographics.

The H-2B visa allows U.S. employers to bring in foreign workers to temporarily fill low-skill nonagricultural jobs across a wide range of states and industries. A series of recent legal challenges has exposed the presence of fraud and abuse, while stripping the program of its regulations and raising uncertainty about its future. This Policy Beat examines the implications in the debate surrounding temporary worker programs.

Attention is now squarely focused on the U.S. federal courts where the legal battle over President Obama's executive actions on immigration continues. While congressional efforts to roll back the directives appear to have been put aside, at least temporarily, implementation of the signature deferred action programs announced in November 2014 remains blocked. The administration, however, is moving forward with other aspects of the executive order, as this article explores.

President Obama's sweeping executive action to shield as many as 3.7 million unauthorized immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents from deportation is facing tough legal and political challenges. This month's Policy Beat examines the efforts to proceed with implementation of DAPA and the expansion of DACA despite a lawsuit brought by a coalition of 26 states and staunch opposition in the Republican-controlled Congress.

Resources

In the Spotlight

State Immigration Data Profiles

Want the latest facts and data on immigrants in the United States? Search U.S. Census data on U.S. immigrants and the native born nationally and by state based on demographic, language and education, workforce, and income indicators.

Every year, the Migration Information Source compiles the Top 10 Migration Issues of the Year, assessing key developments globally regarding immigration developments, policies, and trends. Visit our Top 10 Library today to check out the top migration developments of the year from 2005 onward.

MPI's Data Hub

The Data Hub showcases the most current national and state-level demographic, social, and economic facts about immigrants to the U.S.; as well as stock, flow, citizenship, net migration, and historical data for countries in Europe, North America, and beyond.

The Migration Information Source has published a series of special issues that focus on particular migration trends of note, among them "Migration in the Modern Chinese World," "Women and Migration," and a special issue on migration and development. Check out our Special Issue Library.